Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 184 / Friday, September 22, 2006 / Rules and Regulations 55283 

published at 71 FR 35145 on June 19, 

2006, is adopted as a final rule without 

change. 

Dated: September 15, 2006. 

Lloyd C. Day, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 06–7866 Filed 9–21–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD 

20 CFR Parts 260 and 320 

RIN 3220–AB59 

Requests for Reconsideration and 

Appeals Within the Board 

AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Railroad Retirement 

Board (Board) amends its regulations to 

include video teleconferencing as an 

option for hearings of appeals under the 

Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad 

Unemployment Insurance Act. The 

Board’s hearings officers will determine 

if a hearing should be scheduled using 

this option, rather than a telephone 

conference call hearing or an in person 

hearing. 

DATES: Effective Date: This regulation 

will be effective September 22, 2006. 

ADDRESSES: Beatrice Ezerski, Secretary 

to the Board, Railroad Retirement Board, 

844 Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Marguerite P. Dadabo, Assistant General 

Counsel, Railroad Retirement Board, 

844 Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611, 

(312) 751–4945, TDD (312) 751–4701. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Part 260 of 

the Board’s regulations deals generally 

with administrative review of denials of 

claims or requests for waiver of recovery 

of overpayments under the Railroad 

Retirement Act (RRA). Part 320 deals 

with the same matters under the 

Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act 

(RUIA). The Board amends these parts 

to state that, at the discretion of the 

hearings officer, hearings held during 

the appeal process may be conducted in 

person, by telephone conference call, or 

by video teleconferencing. Previously, 

the regulations only allowed for 

hearings to be held in person or by 

telephone conference call. 

Specifically, the Board amends 

§§ 260.5(i) and 320.22 to state that a 

proposed hearing may be held in 

person, by telephone conference call, or 

by video teleconferencing. These 

sections also state that if an individual 

objects to having a hearing by video 

teleconferencing, the hearings officer 

will find the individual had good cause 

for objecting to the time or place of the 

hearing and will reschedule the 

individual for either a telephone or an 

in person hearing for the appeal. The 

regulation also amends §§ 260.5(1) and 

320.25 to state that the hearings officer 

determines whether a hearing is 

scheduled for a telephone conference 

call, video teleconferencing, or in 

person. 

The Board published the proposed 

rule on December 9, 2005 (70 FR 73175) 

and invited comments by February 7, 

2006. No comments were received. 

Accordingly, the proposed rule is being 

published as a final rule without 

change. 

The Board, with the concurrence of 

the Office of Management and Budget, 

has determined that this is not a 

significant regulatory action under 

Executive Order 12866. Therefore, no 

regulatory impact analysis is required. 

There are no changes to the information 

collections associated with parts 260 

and 320. 

List of Subjects 

20 CFR Part 260 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Claims, Railroad retirement, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

20 CFR Part 320 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Claims, Railroad 

unemployment insurance, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements. 

■ For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, the Railroad Retirement 

Board amends title 20, Chapter II, 

subchapter B, part 260 and subchapter 

C, part 320 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations as follows: 

PART 260—REQUESTS FOR 

RECONSIDERATION AND APPEALS 

WITHIN THE BOARD 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 260 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 45 U.S.C. 231f: 45 U.S.C. 231g; 

45 U.S.C. 355. 

■ 2. Revise paragraphs (i)(1), (i)(3) and 

(1) of § 260.5 to read as follows: 

§ 260.5 Appeal from a reconsideration 

decision. 

* * * * * 

(i) Conduct of an oral hearing. (1) In 

any case in which an oral hearing is to 

be held, the hearings officer shall 

schedule a time and place for the 

conduct of the hearing. At the discretion 

of the hearings officer, any hearing 

required under this part may be held in 

person, by telephone conference call, or 

by video teleconferencing as described 

in § 260.5(1). The hearing shall not be 

open to the public. The hearings officer 

shall promptly notify by mail the party 

or parties to the proceeding as to the 

time and place for the hearing. The 

notice shall include a statement of the 

specific issues involved in the case. The 

hearings officer shall make every effort 

to hold the hearing within 150 days 

after the date the appeal is filed. 

* * * * * 

(3) The hearings officer shall rule on 

any objection timely filed by a party 

under paragraph (i) of this section and 

shall notify the party of his or her ruling 

thereon. The hearings officer may for 

good cause shown, or upon his or her 

own motion, reschedule the time and/or 

place of the hearing. If an individual 

objects to having a hearing by video 

teleconferencing, the hearings officer 

will find the individual’s wish not to 

appear by video teleconferencing to be 

a good reason for changing the time or 

place of the scheduled hearing and will 

reschedule the hearing for a time or 

place where either a telephone 

conference call or an in person hearing 

will be held. The hearings officer may 

also limit or expand the issues to be 

resolved at the hearing. 

* * * * * 

(1) Hearing by telephone or video 

teleconferencing. As stated in paragraph 

(i)(1) of this section, at the discretion of 

the hearings officer, any hearing 

required under this part may be 

conducted in person, by telephone 

conference call, or by video 

teleconferencing. The hearings officer 

may determine the hearing should be 

conducted by telephone conference call 

or video teleconferencing if use of these 

methods would be more efficient than 

conducting an in person hearing and the 

hearings officer does not determine that 

there is a circumstance in the particular 

case preventing the use of these 

methodologies to conduct the hearing. 

* * * * * 

PART 320—INITIAL DETERMINATIONS 

UNDER THE RAILROAD 

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT 

AND REVIEWS OF AND APPEALS 

FROM SUCH DETERMINATIONS 

■ 3. The authority citation for part 320 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 45 U.S.C. 355 and 362(1). 

■ 4. Add a sentence to the beginning of 

paragraph (a) and revise paragraph (c) of 

§ 320.22 to read as follows: 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULES_1
55284 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 184 / Friday, September 22, 2006 / Rules and Regulations 

§ 320.22 Notice of hearing. 

(a) Notification of parties. At the 

discretion of the hearings officer, any 

hearing required under this part may be 

held in person, by telephone conference 

call, or by video teleconferencing as 

described in § 320.25(d). * * * 

* * * * * 

(c) Ruling on objection. The hearings 

officer shall rule on any objection timely 

filed by a party under this section and 

shall notify the party of his or her ruling 

thereon. The hearings officer may for 

good cause shown, or upon his or her 

own motion, reschedule the time and/or 

place of the hearing. If an individual 

objects to having a hearing by video 

teleconferencing, the hearings officer 

will find the individual’s wish not to 

appear by video teleconferencing to be 

a good reason for changing the time or 

place of the scheduled hearing and will 

reschedule the hearing for a time or 

place where a telephone conference call 

or an in person hearing will be held. 

The hearings officer also may limit or 

expand the issues to be resolved at the 

hearing. 

* * * * * 

■ 5. Revise § 320.25(d) to read as 

follows: 

§ 320.25 Hearing of appeal. 

* * * * * 

(d) Hearing by telephone or video 

teleconferencing. As stated in 

§ 320.22(a), at the discretion of the 

hearings officer, any hearing required 

under this part may be conducted in 

person, by telephone conference call, or 

by video teleconferencing. The hearings 

officer may determine the hearing 

should be conducted by telephone 

conference call or video 

teleconferencing if use of these methods 

would be more efficient than 

conducting an in person hearing and the 

hearings officer does not determine that 

there is a circumstance in the particular 

case preventing the use of these 

methodologies to conduct the hearing. 

By Authority of the Board. 

Dated: September 6, 2006. 

Beatrice Ezerski, 

Secretary to the Board. 

[FR Doc. 06–8058 Filed 9–21–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7905–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R08–OAR–2006–0210; FRL–8220–5] 

Approval and Promulgation of State 

Implementation Plans; Utah; Revised 

Definitions of Volatile Organic 

Compounds and Clearing Index; Direct 

Final Rule 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final 

action approving State Implementation 

Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the 

State of Utah on November 11 and 

November 23, 2005. The revisions are to 

the Utah Administrative Code (UAC) 

rule R307–101–2 and (1) incorporate by 

reference the federal definition of 

‘‘Volatile Organic Compounds’’ (VOC), 

and (2) update the definition of 

‘‘Clearing Index’’. The intended effect of 

this action is to make federally 

enforceable these revised definitions to 

the Utah SIP. This action is being taken 

under section 110 of the Clean Air Act. 

DATES: This rule is effective on 

November 21, 2006 without further 

notice, unless EPA receives adverse 

comment by October 23, 2006. If 

adverse comment is received, EPA will 

publish a timely withdrawal of the 

direct final rule in the Federal Register 

informing the public that the rule will 

not take effect. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R08–

OAR–2006–0210, by one of the 

following methods: 

• http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 

the on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• E-mail: long.richard@epa.gov and 

mastrangelo.domenico@epa.gov. 

• Fax: (303) 312–6064 (please alert 

the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT if you are faxing 

comments). 

• Mail: Richard R. Long, Director, Air 

and Radiation Program, Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, 

Mailcode 8P–AR, 999 18th Street, Suite 

200, Denver, Colorado 80202–2466. 

• Hand Delivery: Richard R. Long, 

Director, Air and Radiation Program, 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA), Region 8, Mailcode 8P–AR, 999 

18th Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 

80202–2466. Such deliveries are only 

accepted Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. 

to 4:55 p.m., excluding Federal 

holidays. Special arrangements should 

be made for deliveries of boxed 

information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–R08–OAR–2006–

0210. EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change and may be 

made available online at http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided, unless 

the comment includes information 

claimed to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Do not submit information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through http:// 

www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The 

http://www.regulations.gov Web site is 

an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which 

means EPA will not know your identity 

or contact information unless you 

provide it in the body of your comment. 

If you send an e-mail comment directly 

to EPA, without going through http:// 

www.regulations.gov your e-mail 

address will be automatically captured 

and included as part of the comment 

that is placed in the public docket and 

made available on the Internet. If you 

submit an electronic comment, EPA 

recommends that you include your 

name and other contact information in 

the body of your comment and with any 

disk or CD–ROM you submit. If EPA 

cannot read your comment due to 

technical difficulties and cannot contact 

you for clarification, EPA may not be 

able to consider your comment. 

Electronic files should avoid the use of 

special characters, any form of 

encryption, and be free of any defects or 

viruses. For additional information 

about EPA’s public docket visit the EPA 

Docket Center homepage at http:// 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

For additional instructions on 

submitting comments, go to Section I. 

General Information of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

Docket: All documents in the docket 

are listed in the http:// 

www.regulations.gov index. Although 

listed in the index, some information is 

not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Certain other 

material, such as copyrighted material, 

will be publicly available only in hard 

copy. Publicly available docket 

materials are available either 

electronically in http:// 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the Air and Radiation Program, 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA), Region 8, 999 18th Street, Suite 

300, Denver, Colorado 80202–2466. EPA 

requests that if at all possible, you 

contact the individual listed in the FOR


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULES_1